In the beginning was
word. In Ascii’s fancy code for on
and off. And then the word became
image and there was youtube. And
there was nothing that was made with out word and the word became digitized and
dwelt among us almost instantaneously everywhere at once and all (well, almost
all) people beheld it. And took it
and created themselves in the image of media on facebook. And twitter. And
doing stopped except for the sake of image. And image shaped doing and image
grew into a world of Kodachrome perfection shaping perception and giving us a
measure to value our souls by the look of our digital lives.
Recently I found myself
enthusiastically telling a friend of mine about blogging. At the risk of coming off as just
another narcissist, I expounded on the benefits of blogging for a hesitant
writer. She had been telling me she wanted to write more and I was encouraging
her to give blogging a try. A few
weeks later I spoke with my friend again.
She had read my blog and had some fun exploring a few others as well.
“But,”
she continued, “After a while I started to feel badly because everyone’s life
seems so much more exciting and together than mine is right now.”
This
from a woman who has traveled the world as a street performer and who tackles
every challenge life presents her with go-getter confidence. One who has ridden through life storms,
holding on to flotsam by the skin of her teeth and lived to tell the tale!
Utopias always fall
apart, abandoning truth for an image of perfection. Truth is hard and risky to write. Whenever I edit, I create something not quite real, often a
bit more like the world I wish there was.
I’m only human.
I hope my friend does
eventually write something she’ll let me read. It can’t help but be a gripping tale!